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Sheriff's son nabbed

Looking back in history, here were some of the happenings in the Cookeville area for the week of June 5-19 as recorded in the pages of the Herald-Citizen:

1930

Alton Templeton, the son of White County's Sheriff, was held up one night this week by two young men as he filled up his car with gasoline at the Broadway Service Station in Cookeville. They took his Pontiac Coach, $4, and kidnapped Templeton and his black assistant. The bandits fled to Jackson County where they released their two captives just before daylight. That day they held up the Bank of Whitleyville and locked cashier, J.S. Dudney, in the vault before cutting phone lines to the bank and fleeing. Later this week two men were arrested for the spree after authorities found a string of clues that led them to the pair. (June 5, 1930)

1932

People said it was like the "good old days" here when the Tennessee Central Railroad lowered its weekend rates this week in an effort to boost use of the line by passengers. Competition from bus lines and the automobile have taken their toll on train passenger service. The TC lowered its rates for weekend rides to 75 cents for the trip to Nashville and back. Hundreds took advantage of it last weekend. The newspaper writes, "It was a joyful group that met at the station here when engineers poked their heads out of the cab to greet crowds that they hadn't seen for many months." Many just rode to Nashville and straight back again, happy to be able to afford a train ride once again. (June 16, 1932)

1936

Cordell Hull was in town this week after attending the funeral of a friend in Nashville. He's President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of State and his stop here caused quite a stir. A crowd met him at the Shanks Hotel by the depot. He later went to Carthage and for the first time saw the bridge over the Cumberland River that they've named for him. (June 11, 1936)

1940

The nation is about to go to war and the president may activate the National Guard. If so, the Army is getting an award winning unit, Cookeville's Troop I of the 109th. It ranked high in recent maneuvers at Camp Peay in Tullahoma. It won a new silk standard in Ft. Oglethorpe for its performance there too. Organized in 1926 as a cavalry unit, its horse barn was erected on the D.C. Wilhite property east of town. The facility also includes a nine-hole golf course, Cookeville's first. It's located adjacent to the horse barn. (June 6, 1940)

1945

Dean A.W. Smith, chairman of the 7th War Bond Drive for Putnam County, said this week that the war may be over in Europe, but it's still raging in the Pacific. But Putnam County is barely moving towards its $460,000 quota. So far, only $68,000 in war bonds have been sold in the drive here.

Meanwhile, in Buffalo Valley, the family of Pvt. James Smith has received word that he's well and in friendly hands after being held in a German POW camp since his capture on June 6, 1944. That was when his unit parachuted behind German lines the night before D-Day in France to attempt to disrupt the Germans before the Allies came ashore at Normandy. He's been held since in a POW camp in Czechoslovakia. (June 7, 1945)

1947

War halted work on Center Hill Dam and, now that the war is over, word from Washington is that funds to complete the project may be cut. Meanwhile, farmers whose land is being taken for the new lake say they were originally told they would not be asked to leave in 1947, so they'd made arrangements to raise feed for livestock on their lands this year. Then they got a notice saying they'd have to vacate by April 15, prompting them to scramble to find new homes and places for their livestock before then. But that was complicated by the fact that the US government had not paid them for their land yet, and many were unable to make down payments on new farms. Increasingly, many are unhappy here with the way the project is being handled. (June 5, 1947)

1950

Dr. Sidney McGee, faculty advisor to the TTU student newspaper, the Oracle, sand sports publicist for the college, is resigning his advisory position to concentrate on writing about TTU athletics, president Everett Derryberry announced this week.

Meanwhile, Cookeville's black baseball team, the Cookeville Stars, plays the Watertown Cubs here this week at the old fairgrounds. A large crowd is expected. Last Sunday in Watertown, the local team lost and this week, word is that the Stars are out for revenge. (June 8, 1950)

1952

The Tennessee Central Railroad announced another schedule change this week. The No. 1 train will now leave Cookeville at 6:40 p.m. and arrive in Nashville at 10 p.m. It leaves from Harriman at 3:30 each day. The No. 2 train leaves Nashville at 9 a.m. and reaches Cookeville at 12:30. It ends its run at Harriman at 3:30. The trains are now powered by diesel locomotives. (June 5, 1952)

1954

Former governor Gordon Browning was in Trenton, Tennessee, this week to open his campaign to regain the seat he lost to Frank Clements. A crowd of 7,000 attended. Meanwhile in Lebanon this week, Gov. Frank Clements announced his bid for re-election before a crowd of more than 10,000. The race is on.

And Robert Brown, son of Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Brown, of Double Springs, is the winner of the state FFA essay contest. The Central High valedictorian wrote on the subject of soil conservation. (June 19, 1954)

1957

Big-time wrestling debuted in Cookeville this week at the National Guard Armory when Nick Gulas brought his production to town. It pitted two of the nation's top women wrestlers against one another, Miss Millie Stafford and Miss Judy Glover. Meanwhile, the men's main event matched Tex Riley against the Bat, a masked wrestler known for his rough-and-tumble mat techniques. (June 10, 1957)

1960

Dr. Guy Stewart, head of TTU's journalism department and director of public information at TTU, has resigned after nine years here, to develop a graduate program at his alma mater, the University of West Virginia.

Meanwhile, Sharon Ann Young, daughter of Mrs. Adell Young, of Cookeville, has been named Lt. Governor of Volunteer Girls State at Murfreesboro this week. She's a Central High student. (June 7, 1960)

1962

Burgess Falls, a popular fishing place and scenic spot, will be easier to get to after this week. The State Game and Fish Commission has installed metal stairs leading from the bottom to the top of the falls. The dedication is Saturday.

A 29-day dry spell came to an end this week when .81 inches of rain fell over the period of a day and a night. Farm officials say they believe that the crops are saved. (June 5, 1962)

1965

In an editorial, the newspaper comments that there are a lot of federal dollars flowing out of Washington these days in new federal programs to local communities. The newspaper cautions that the money should be used to "create lasting good." "If the funds obtained are used as a base upon which great new life may be built by local initiative then the need for continuous aid will be ended." But some towns and counties will only use the federal funds to "learn how to run faster to Washington for aid," and "the results will be disastrous," the newspaper predicts. (June 8, 1965)

1968

On the first of two required readings, Cookeville City Council this week approved a record $5.4 million city budget presented by City manager Luther Mathis.

And the Clyde Barrow gang rolled into town this week. On film, anyway. The acclaimed "Bonnie and Clyde" opened in the Princess Theater this week. It stars Faye Dunaway and Warren Beaty as the two gangsters who terrorized the nation's midwest in the late 1930s. Also featured are Gene Hackman and Michael J. Pollard. (June 11, 1968)

1970

News from the latest US Census: Putnam County now has an official population of 34,489. Cookeville's new headcount, 14,204, is being contested as too low by Cookeville officials. City Manager Bethel Newport said that the figure is crucial to the city because a city's official population is used in federal and state funding calculations.

A new kind of home is being widely publicized as the home of tomorrow. Ensculptic homes — environmental sculptures in plastic — are free-flowing structures made of polyurethane foam sprayed over burlap panels. They are "designed to fit into natural settings." Promoters say they are "the wave of the future." (June 9, 1970)

1973

On first reading this week, Cookeville City Council passed a record budget, $10.8 million. It'll be funded in part with a $1.05 property tax rate. (June 11, 1973)

1978

Authorities are calling it the worst wreck in Putnam County history. Three Nashville teens and an elderly Allardt woman, the grandmother of one of the girls, were killed this week when a tractor trailer overtook their car, rode over it, and sent it smashing into a rock wall on Interstate 40 coming down the mountain from Monterey. They were bound for graduation ceremonies at Antioch High School in Nashville.

In California, Howard Jarvis says it's the start of a revolt on the scale of the Boston Tea Party. Voters in California this week passed Proposition 13 by a 2 to 1 margin. It will put a statewide cap on property taxes in California towns by 57 percent on the average. In all, $7 billion in property tax revenue will be lost to cities and counties in that state. Jarvis, the main proponent of the measure, predicts it will now spread to other states. (June 7, 1978)